Happy Book Birthday to BEHIND THE SCENES by Dahlia Adler!

You guys! It's finally happening! The book I've blogged, tweeted and GIF'd my excitement about for months is at last out in the world! HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY, BEHIND THE SCENES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

High school senior Ally Duncan's best friend may be the Vanessa Park - star of TV's hottest new teen drama - but Ally's not interested in following in her BFF's Hollywood footsteps. In fact, the only thing Ally's ever really wanted is to go to Columbia and study abroad in Paris. But when her father's mounting medical bills threaten to stop her dream in its tracks, Ally nabs a position as Van's on-set assistant to get the cash she needs. 

Spending the extra time with Van turns out to be fun, and getting to know her sexy co-star Liam is an added bonus. But when the actors' publicist arranges for Van and Liam to "date" for the tabloids just after he and Ally share their first kiss, Ally will have to decide exactly what role she's capable of playing in their world of make believe. If she can't play by Hollywood's rules, she may lose her best friend, her dream future, and her first shot at love.

....And a huge congratulations to its fabulous author, Dahlia Adler! (And if you haven't already, click the link to purchase, because you're missing out if you don't!)

In honor of BtS's release day, I'm offering a little glimpse "behind the scenes" into my own writerly life.

Most of you know my own novel, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE, comes out next summer. I'd love to show you a picture of my office and tell you it's "where the magic happened," but alas, the first draft of LYM was complete long before I moved to my house in Georgia. So.....

That's a picture of a fountain pen, very apropos for a writing cave!

My desk, which is supposed to have a corkboard above it, but doesn't
because I can't find one I like.

The obligatory bookshelf, complete with the stereo my husband gave me
in the 1990's, when he was my boyfriend and we were our own YA novel.

..... here is where the magic did NOT happen.

Unless you count revisions, which we probably should, since this office *is* where I took the "finished" ms from 64,000 words to 72,000. Curious to know what that looks like?

Well, it's a little something like this:

Normally I'm not nearly as organized about revising. I scribble down some notes on a sheet of paper, and cross them off as I address them. But as it turns out, realizing you need to rearrange chapters in the first half of the novel in order to address your editor's wish list  is a little more daunting than just revising from beta notes.

So this time, I was all about color-coded note cards (blue for Present chapters, white for Past). I paper-clipped them to their respective sections of the novel and laid them out on the floor so I could keep the timeline straight, and see the main points of each chapter at a glance. It was a HUGE help.

Especially since I can only work on my writing when this little guy naps:

Nap?! How can I nap when soon I'll be
holding the BOOK instead of the postcard?
FIST PUMP!

So there you have it - a little peek behind the scenes at how and where I revised LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE. It's also where I finished (but not started) BUSTED, where I'm currently turning my novella, JESSE'S GIRL into a full-length novel, and where I'll be revising SHADOW PARK.

And now I'd like to offer I'd like to offer a way less boring look behind the scenes - the actual book. One random commentor will win a copy of BEHIND THE SCENES courtesy of moi! 

For everyone else here's where you can go to get it:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Scenes-Dahlia-Adler/dp/1939392977

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/behind-the-scenes-phoebe-adler/1104516606

The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Behind-Scenes-Dahlia-Adler/9781939392978

Indiebound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781939392978

CONGRATULATIONS, DAHLIA!!!